Field
This development relates generally to heart valves, in particular to devices, systems and methods for heart valve replacement.
Description of the Related Art
Mitral valve disease is typically repaired via invasive surgical intervention or by complicated pinching of the leaflets together creating dual, smaller openings or a mitral valve replacement excluding the native valve. The surgical approach involves risky by-pass surgery, including an opening into the patient's chest and heart chambers to expose the mitral valve for direct viewing and repair. Resection and partial removal of the patient's leaflets along with the implantation of a surgical ring like a Carpentier-Edwards Physio, produced by Edwards Life Science, are conventional but complex techniques used by surgeons to reduce the diameter of the patient's mitral annulus, thus allowing the leaflets to properly coapt and reducing the mitral regurgitate flow. The E-valve catheterization device described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,736,388 B2 and recently approved in the U.S. attempts to duplicate a surgical technique developed by Dr. Ottavio Alfieri where a connection is made across the mitral valve creating dual openings totaling a smaller cross sectional area for blood to flow. This technique often slightly reduces the regurgitate flow but does not provide as durable a solution as the surgical ring implantation. Thus, solutions to mitral valve disease without these drawbacks are needed.